Many U.S. adults do not have access to affordable vaccines, William Atkinson, director of the National Immunization Program at CDC, said last week during a visit to Utah, the Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News reports. According to Atkinson, "very little safety net" exists for adults who require but cannot afford vaccines against tetanus, meningitis, pertussis, shingles, human papillomavirus, hepatitis B and other diseases. He added that "insurance companies commonly don't cover those." Atkinson also said that budgetary issues limit the ability of public health officials to address the issue. All adults should ask their physicians whether they have received all of the vaccines they require and where to obtain such vaccines, Atkinson said. He added that childhood immunization programs during the past decade have helped reduce racial and ethnic disparities in vaccination rates, which have "for all practical purposes gone away" (Collins, Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News, 4/22).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.